bocadillos

Owner Gerald Hirigoyen named his FiDi restaurant Bocadillos after the little sandwiches of the same name in Basque cuisine. These lamb sliders are a favorite among the lunch crowd during the week, and the recipe comes from Hirigoyen's 2009 cookbook, Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition (Ten Speed).

I can't say how pleased I was to get the press release from one of my favorite SF restaurants, Bocadillos, that it is now offering a Basque happy hour menu from 5-7. Having visited Basque, Spain for the first time last fall, I can verify that every hour in that wonderful town of San Sebastian is a happy one, especially come evening in San Sebastian, when the town's myriad bars open their doors. Inside, revelers find the txacoli (a light, tart, slightly sparkling white wine) flowing and set platters of the world's tastiest drinking food, pintxos--or tapas, as we know them.

While we’re used to hearing dreamy, Californiafied quips from Alice Waters, in NYC, they don’t even know what to do with it. A week ago she was at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival where she spoke on “A New Agenda: Food” with New York Times Magazine editor Gerry Mazorati. According to WWD, which excerpted some of the conversation (which I found by way of the always resourceful Eater), Waters—when asked about the elitism associated with foodies—said:

“I bought two cauliflowers at the farmers’ market today. It cost me $4.20. I could have fed 10 to 20 people with them. You just need to know how to cook.”

Taking this into consideration, I called up a few people that know how to cook to ask their opinion. Although more than one alluded to the fact that the idea of feeding 20 people with two (hopefully large) heads of cauliflower might be best applied in a third world country, I did get some creative—if hopeful—answers.